Firefox Ship file switch app lands on Android: Right here’s the way it works

Mozilla has lastly launched its encrypted file-transfer app for Android, almost two weeks after formally releasing it for the desktop. The corporate did announce on the time that it was launching the app as a part of a public beta for Android, although that was finally delayed for undisclosed causes.

At any charge, Firefox Ship is out there on Android telephones now, and from a function perspective it’s just about on a par with the desktop incarnation.

The way it works

With out having to sign up or create a Firefox account, you should utilize the Firefox Ship app to add file(s) of as much as 1GB and share a hyperlink with different customers. You possibly can embrace any recordsdata which are saved in your cellphone, together with photographs, movies, and PDFs, and it additionally offers you entry to any recordsdata saved in your cloud accounts, like Dropbox or Google Drive, assuming they’re synced to the system.

Above: Firefox Ship for Android: Getting began

When you’ve chosen your recordsdata, hit “add” and replica the hyperlink to your clipboard to manually share it wherever — or use the share button on the subsequent display to share content material to quite a few apps, akin to Gmail, Twitter, and Slack.

Above: Firefox Ship: Sharing a hyperlink

To date so good. However those that haven’t signed into their Firefox accounts will encounter some limitations. For instance, they may solely be allowed to motion a single obtain from a shared hyperlink earlier than it expires, and they’ll even be restricted to a timescale of not more than a day.

Above: Firefox Ship: Downloads and cut-off dates

When you attempt to choose a couple of obtain or in the future from the little drop-down bins, you’ll be prompted to create a Firefox account or to sign up if you have already got one. Doing so additionally offers you entry to a better file measurement restrict of 2GB.

Above: Firefox Ship: Immediate to sign up

Verdict

As a easy app for sharing recordsdata on the fly, Firefox Ship works, and it really works effectively.

For comparability, WeTransfer — a extra established participant within the file switch realm — doesn’t require you to sign up to make use of its free service, and it means that you can share recordsdata of as much as 2GB in measurement. However all recordsdata are saved for 7 days normal, and you may’t management the variety of downloads which are allowed. It’s additionally value mentioning that this service is ad-supported. On WeTransfer’s paid service, which prices $10 per thirty days and has no adverts, customers can set the default expiry interval to 1 week, two weeks, 4 weeks, or by no means, however they nonetheless can’t set limits on the variety of downloads.

WeTransfer’s paid service comes with a bunch of different advantages, akin to the power to ship as much as 20GB with every switch, and likewise permits as much as 500GB of storage.

There are, after all, numerous providers for sharing recordsdata with pals and colleagues, akin to Dropbox and Google Drive. However with granular controls and end-to-end encryption, Mozilla is pitching Firefox Ship as an ephemeral, privacy-focused various. You don’t have to recollect to delete a file, and in case you’re tremendous paranoid you possibly can set the auto-remove timer to as little as 5 minutes.

The free model of Firefox Ship will suffice for a lot of people, together with freelancers and creatives, however these with extra industrial-sized wants will most likely need to get a Firefox account. Anybody in search of heftier file transfers, and possibly slightly cloud storage thrown in for good measure, will most likely do effectively to discover a paid service, such because the one WeTransfer presents.